Butcher&#39;s ready-reckoner.



A. G. GERRARD. BUTGHERS READY RBGKONBR.

APPLIATION FILED NOV. 25l 1908.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Nw NNN APPLGATON FILED NOV. 25, 1908.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A. G. GBRRARD. BUTGHERS READY REGKONER. APPLIOATVION FILED Nov. 25, 190e.

1,085,330; Patented Jan. 27, 1914. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

ALBERT C. GERRARD, OF LONGBEACH, CALIFORNIA.

BUTCHERS READY-BECKONER.

Specification of Letters -Patent Patented @11.27, 1914..

Application filed November 25, 1908. Serial No. 464,484.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERr C. GERHARD, a citizen'of the United States, residing at Longbeaeh, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Butchers Ready-Reckoner, of which the following is a specification.

An object of this invention is to provide a table of prices `for retail butchers, in the nature of a sliding scale so that when the wholesale price goes up or down all of the retail prices may be readily adjusted without computation, and so that when a butcher desires to raise or lower his percentage of profit the adjustment may be made mechanically and without computation.

The invention consists of the novel features herein shown, described and claimed.

lt is to be understood that the invention is capable of various embodiments and that in practical use it is not necessary that extreme accuracy be had with regard to the prices for the reason that there is a measure of margin allowable and in actual practice quite necessary in adjusting the prices of various cuts to correspond with the wholesale prices of the half or whole carcass.

The problem is not so much to provide in each instance an exact charge per pound for each character of cut; but to provide a satisfactory scale of prices for the different cuts whereby the retailer will be safe from loss and will be assured a reasonable prent, at the same time maintaining a fair and readily determined list of prices for the different cuts.

The drawings` illustrate a ready-reckoner constructed for the use of retail butchers and embodying' the principles of my invention. Similar computations may be made for other classes of business without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective of a complete device. Fig. 2 is a front elevation partly in section. Fig. 3 is a top plan, parts being removed and parts being shown in section to illustrate the details. Fig. 4 is a plan of the vcomputation-sheet and the wholesale price list for beef. Fig. 5 is a plan of the computation-sheet and the wholesale price list for mutt-on. Fig. (l is a` plan for the computation-sheet and the wholesale price list :for pork. Fig. 7 is a plan for the computation sheet and the wholesale price list for veal.

The computation sheets and wholesale price lists to be used are based upon average weights .found by numerous tests with different carcasses.

For a dressed side of beef weighing 261 pounds the weights of the different cuts grouped according to relative prices, are vfound to be as follows, and each group is found to be approximately a certain perccntage of the entire side as indicated for the groups, respectively, viz: Front shank, 9% lbs.; knuckle 2'1- lbs.; neck button 3.1 lbs.; rump bone, 3i lbs.; hind shank 121v lbs.; 12% of the side. Round pot roast 171- lbs.; cross rib, 1.1? lbs.; 4th cut neck 5 lbs.; rump, 11 lbs.; heelllbs.; 17% of the side. Plate 19 lbs.; brisk 6 lbs.; 1, 2, 3, cut neck, 11 lbs.; suet and fat, 3 lbs.; flank 8 lbs.; kidney 1g; lbs.; 18% of the side. Chuck steak 22 lbs.; chuck ribs lllbs.; 14% of the side. Loin steak lbs.; flat bone 15 lbs.; 9% of the side. Porterhouse 10 lbs.; short porterhouse 10.1 lbs.; 8% of the side. Round steak 35 lbs.; 13% of the side. 1st 3 ribs, 10 lbs.; 2nd 3 ribs, 12;- lbs.; 9% of the side.

For a dressed side of veal weighing 35 lbs., the cuts are as follows: Hide, 3ft lbs.; 11 fa of the side. Breast 31 lbs.; neck 3 lbs.; 17% of the side. Shoulder steak lbs.; 16%y of the side. Ribs, 2 lbs.; small loin 21 lbs.; large loin lbs.; 23% of the side. Rump 1 lb.; round steaks 4 lbs.; heel el. lb.; 16%, of the side. Kidney lb.; Shanks and tail lbs.; 17% of the side.

For a dressed side of pork weighing 1191- pounds, the cuts are as follows: Leaf 111- lbs.; back fat 17 lbs.; spare ribs 3% lbs.; side, 143g lbs.; saus trim 3 lbs.; 30% of the side. Head 129;- lbs.; rind 3 lbs.; feet 51,7 lbs.; kidney,

lb.; 17% of the side. Shoulder 18E?V lbs. ;l leg l 201Y lbs.; 33% of the side. Rib and loin 1G1- lbs.; 14% of the side.

For a dressed side of mutton weighing 181; pounds, the cuts are as follows: Breast, 31-

lbs.; neck 11 lbs.; kidney 11 lbs.; 27% of the A side. Large loin 1J, lbs.; small loin 2 lbs.; rib 111, lbs.; 28% of the side. Leg 12 lbs.; 26?., of the side. Shoulder 31 lbs.; 19% of the side.

The frame is square or rect-angular and consists of the rear side piece 1 end pieces 2 and 3 framed to the rear side piece, the bottom l. framed to the end pieces and the rear side piece, and the removable front 5 secured in place by screws G. The beef roller 7, the veal roller 8, the pork roller 9 and the mutton roller 10 are essentially alike in mechanical details, and said rollers are mounted parallel in the frame, the rear ends of the rollers being reducedv to form pintles 11 extending through bearing openings in -the' rear side piece and operating handles 12 extending beyond the side pieces. The forward ends of the rollers are reduced in size to form the shafts 13, and the wholesale rollers 14 are mounted rotatably upon the shafts 13. Sleeves 15 are formed integral with the forward ends of the rollers 14, said sleeves extending through the bearing openings in the front piece 5.

The beef computation sheet 16 is placed around the beef roller 7, the veal computation sheet 17 is placed around the veal roller 8, the pork computation sheet 18 is placed around the pork roller 9, and the mutton computation sheet 19 placed around the roller 10.

The shaft 13 and sleeve 15 extend slightly beyond the front face of the front 5, and the cap-shaped dial 20 has a central opening for the end of the shaft 13 and is placed against the end of the sleeve 15 and secured thereto by screws 21 so that the dial may be used as a handle for manipulating the rollers 14. The clamping washer 22 is placed against the end of the shaft 13 and secured thereto by brads or screws 23, said washer being large enough to press the dial 20 against the sleeve 15, and an adjusting screw 24 is inserted through the center of the washer and screwl seated into the shaft 13, so that when the screw 24 vis tightened the washer 22 is tightened against the dial 2() and against the end of the shaft 13 to clamp the roller 14 to the roller 7, and to clamp the parts all together. An indicator-finger 25 is formed integral with the washer and extends outwardly. A series of percentage numbers 26 are formed upon the face of the dial 20 so that by loosening the screw 24 the indicator 25 may be adjusted to point to any desired one of the numbers 26.

The wholesale price lists 27 are vsecured to the peripheries of the wholesale rollers, there being one roller r14 for each of the rollers 16, 1t, 18 and 19. A slide 28 is placed against the inner face of the front 5 on top of the rollers 14 and is held in place by the pins 29 inserted downwardly between the rollers into the bottom 4. At one end of the slide a portion is cut away to form the shoulder 3() to engage the inner face of the side 2 and limit the movement of the slide in that direction, the other end of the slide engaging the inner face of the end 3.

A handle 31 extends from the end of the slide adjacent the shoulder 30 through a` slot inthe end piece 2, there being an eye 32 in the outer end of this handle and a A screw-eye 33 is screw-seated in the side piece 2 from the outer side, the eye of the screw being alinement with the eye 32 of the handle4 when the slide is pushed inwardly, and a padlock 34 is applied .through said eyes to hold the slide in its inner or closed position.

Sight-openings 35 are formed through the slide, one for each of the rollers 14 so that the wholesale price list will present one number at a time in place to be seen through these openings. A sheet metal facing 36 is placed in a recess 37 which extends all the way around the frame in the outer edges of the walls, and sight-openings 38, 39, 40 and 41 are formed through this facing, said openings being directly over the centers of the rollers 7, 8, 9 and 10. 4

A printed sheet of paper is secured to the facing, the sight-openings 38, 39, 4() and 41 extending through the paper, appears upon the paper at the left of the opening 38; the list 43 at the left of the opening 39; the list 44 at the left of the opening 40; and the list 45 at the left of the opening 41; said list 40 being the names of the parts into which a beef-carcass is cut for retailing, the list 43 being the names of the parts into which a veal is cut, the list 44 being the names of the parts into which a pork-carcass is out, and the list 45 being the names of the parts into which a mutton-car-l cass is cut. Below the list 42, 43, 44 and 45 appear the words Beef, Veal, Pork, and Mutton, and below these words appear the sight-openings 46, 47, 48 and 49 ex tending through the paper andthe facing; said openings being directly over the centers of the wholesale rollers 14 and in alinement with the openings- 35 in the slide so that by removing the padlock 34 and moving the slide to the left until the shoulder 30 strikes the end piece 2 the openings 35 will come into registration with the openings 46, 47 48 and 49, so that the ywholesale prices upon the list 27 may be seen through said openings and so that by moving the slide the other way the openings are closed and the wholesale price is covered, and by applying the padlock the slide is secured in its l closed position.

In the wholesale lists 27 the numbers run by quarter cents from four to ten, and these lists applied to the different words and distinguished by the words Beef, Veal, Pork, and Mutton upon the facing indicate the price per pound for these articles. In the computation sheets 16, 17, 18 and 19 the prices are figured to get the sellingprice'per pound for each of the wholesale prices with a gross profit of from 18% to 34% added, or any other series of profits which may be desired the computations being in columns so that the desired column upon the sheets upon the rollers will appear through the sight-openings 38, 39, 40 and 41.

When it is desired to adjust the machine to change the percentage of profit, the screw and the list 42 Q4 is loosened,- the dial 20 manipulated until the prevailing wholesale price appears through the corresponding opening in the facing, and then the indicator 25 1s moved until it points to the desired percentage of profit in the series of numbers 26. Then the screw'24 is tightened and the desired list of `retail prices appears ythrough the sightopenings 38, 39, 40 or 41. When the wholesale price changes, 'all that is necessary in order to determine the corresponding retail prices, is simply to turn the dial 20 and thus turn the wholesale and retail rollers simultaneously to bring the new wholesale price to view in its sight-opening, whereupon the appropriate retail prices will appear through their sight-opening. 4

In constructing the device the indicatorfinger 25 is fiXed in alinement with the highest column of the computations upon the computation sheet upon the retail roller, and the percentage numbers upon the dial 2O are arranged with the highest computed percentage in alinement with the highest Wholesale price upon the price-list 27, and the numbers upon the price-list run downwardly to the right while the numbers upon the dial run downwardly to the left. A glass 50V is placed upon the facing 36 and held in place by a molding ,51. By removing the screws 6 the front 5 carryin the entire mechanism may be removed rom the boX.

It is obvious that many changes may be made in the form and size and details of construction, and that the principles may be applied to other business than butcherbusiness without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Thus it will be seen that I have produced a ready-reckoner comprising list-s of parts, computation-sheets giving the prices of the different parts for various wholesale prices and various percentages of profit niovably mounted in registration with the'lists of parts, and a wholesale list of prices movably mounted relative to the computationsheets and registering therewith, so that the device may be readily adjusted to a given wholesale price and a given percentage of profit so as to give the prices which must be charged for the various parts, thus doing away with the necessity of'computing these prices or remembering the prices.

The devices may be constructed for any desired number of different percentages of profit and for any desired range of wholesale prices. For instance, in Fig. 2 I have shown five different percentages of profit ranging from 18% to 34%, and in Fig. 4 I have shown 25 different wholesale prices of beef ranging from 4c to 10 by quarter cents. In making the retail computations for beef, as in Fig. 4, the range of wholesale prices used will be selected from the wholesale list according to the range of the market and the proiit percentage. For instance, when the device shown is set for computing a profit of 30% the range of wholesale prices of beef will be from 6c to 10 only, and there will be no computations for the wholesale prices below 4c, or above 10. In the same way the wholesale prices of mutton may range from 7 to 13, and the wholesale prices of pork may range from 6c to 1295, and the wholesale prices of veal may be entirely different from any of the other wholesale prices; so that the relation between the wholesale prices shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 and the retail prices shown upon the various computation sheets is arbitrary. unnecessarily enlarge the computation sheets and complicate the device to produce five different retail prices for each of the twenty-five different wholesale prices. Of course, in exceptional` cases the range of wholesale prices may go below 4 or above 10c for some materials, and the machine may be built of a larger or smaller size as desired to increase or decrease the range of wholesale prices. When finger 25 is shifted on the dial the wholesale strip is shifted relative to the retail sheet. The numbers on the dial representing percentages of profit are so arranged that when the finger is brought to one of such numbers the relation between the wholesale prices and the retail prices will correspond to the computations for that percentage. Then by tightening the screw 24 and thus fixing the finger relative to the dial and consequently the wholesale strip relative to the retail com-` putations, the retail prices corresponding to any wholesale price at that percentage of profit for the carcass may be made available through the sight-opening.`

To change the percentage the dealer will loosen the percentage screw 24 and turn the percentage dial 20, while the retail price roller is held stationary, until the indicator points to the desired percentage on the percentage dial. The slide being removed from the wholesale price sight opening, the dealer will first note that a wholesale price is in line with the retail column formerly in view, and will then tighten the percentage screw to prevent relative movement of the indicator, the percentage dial and the retail price roller. I-Ie will then turn the roller, and consequently simultaneously and equally, both price lists and the percentage dial and indicator until the prevailing wholesale price appearsin the retail sight opening'. For example; referring to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, if the wholesale price is ten cents per pound and the percentage of profit is 34% andthe dealer has desired. to change such percentage of profit -to 30%, he will have rotated the price list four points to the right in Fig. 4 so that the prevailing wholesale price, 10

It would l cents, will be found under the fourth column from the left, the prices from the top of which read downwardly 10, 5, S, etc. If a further reduction were required to 26% when the percentage dial and the roller had again 'been set as above suggested, four points, the wholesale price 10 will a pear under the eighth column from the le t, which reads from the tcp downwardly, 8, 4, 6, 10, etc. A further reduction to 22% would carry the character 10 four points farther to the right underneath the column reading from the top downward 6%, 3, ete. A further reduction to 18% would brin the' character 10 under the column reading rom .the top downward 5, 2, 4, etc. The appa- Without changing the percentage.

ratus may be set to intermediate percentages in a similar manner by gag'ing by the eye the appropriate distance between the num'- bers on the er'centage dial.

In ca'se t e ,prevailing wholesale price should change from ten cents to five cents, the retail prices will be determined for any percentage by simply turning the roller For instance, assuming that in Fig. 4 the percentage of profit is 34 while the wholesale priceis ten cents, all that is necessary in order to determine the list of prices at five cents wholesale will be to simply turn the retail price roller while the wholesale price list, percentage dial, and percentage indicator are in fixed relation to said roller. In that way lthe fifth column from the right of Figi-4 would be brought to the retail price sight opening and the wholesale rice 5 would appear in the wholesale price sight opening and the retail price column above it would appear in the retail sight opening, and-so' on with .my of the different wholesale prices shown. It is evident that the same remains true with any and every percentage. For example, if the percentage has been changed from 34 to 30, the wholesale price 5 will 4be brought under the first retail price at the right of Fig. 4, which reads from the top downward, 2, 1, 2, 4, etc. Any further reduction of the percentage of profit with beef at five cents per pound wh`olesale is not -at present assumed' to be possible and the apparatus is not extended to show such reduction.

It is always understood that it is not necessary to applyto a dial all of the figures necessary to' represent the variations which may be made to occur in position of the indicator on the dia-l, and the characters on the' dial of this device are so spaced apart that when the dial has been shifted one point relative to the indicator the wholesale price list will have been shifted across one column of the retail price list; and when, in the instance illustra-ted, the dial has been turned from 30 to 34, or vice versa, four points of the retail price have been covered. By moving it only one-fourth of the distance each point of the retail price` will have been covered.-

The principle of the invention as above enemplified may be' carried out n extenso by the constructor without further suggestion'.

I claim:

1. In a ready-reckoner, a box, retail rollers mounted in the box, computations for retail prices upon the retail rollers, wholesale rollers adjustably connected to the retail rollers, lists of wholesale prices upon the wholesale rollers, a facing for the box and having sight-openings through which the retail prices appear and sight-openings through which the wholesale prices appear, lists of parts upon the facing registering with the retail prices upon the roller, and a slide for closlng the sight-openings and hiding the wholesale prices. I

2. In a ready-reckoner, retail rollers suitablyv mounted, computations for retail prices upon the retail rollers, wholesale rollers ad- `iustably mounted relative to the retail rollers, lists of wholesale prices upon the wholesale rollers, percentage dials connected to the wholesale rollers, a percentage indicator connected to the retail rollers for the dial, and lists of parts in registration with the retail prices, said retail prices being iigured for variouslwholesale prices and various percentages of profit so as to save the retailer the work of computing the prices and remeinbering the prices.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 16th day of November, 1908.

ALBERT C. GERHARD.

In presence, of-

JAMES R. TowNsnND, JULIA TowNsENn. 

